Geoff Roes Continues 100-mile Winning Streak

The ultra champion has a habit of breaking course records, too

Eight days before what would be a record-setting day at the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run from Squaw Valley to Auburn, CA, Geoff Roes flew down from Juneau, AK, and set up camp in the mountains near Squaw Valley. He spent the next week acclimatizing in his little tent in the woods and pondering his upcoming race.

Having won every one of his six previous 100-milers, the 34-year-old organic deli cook from the Last Frontier knew he had a chance to win the coveted bronze Western States cougar trophy. His greatest competitors would be 26-year-old Anton Krupicka, the two-time Leadville 100-Miler champion, and 22-year-old Kilian Jornet Burgada of Spain, two time winner of the European Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc.

As runners gathered at the start, temperatures hovered around 40 degrees in the valley. Roes was well aware that the 2,550 foot vertical gain in the first 4 ½ miles would bring much warmer temperatures. He was also prepared for the snow he would encounter, sometimes packed up to four feet high in the mountains. As the race got underway, Roes, Krupicka and Jornet led the charge up to Emigrant Pass, beginning their grueling 100.2-mile journey through California’s historic gold country in what proved to be one of the most competitive ultras in recent memory.

Ultra Runner by Accident

Raised in Cleveland, New York, Geoff Roes was a standout track and cross country runner in high school. He went on to compete in one season of cross country at Syracuse University before being plagued by injuries and subsequently giving up the sport. For the next 10 years, Roes was absent from the running scene.

It wasn’t until he moved to Alaska in 2005 that he came back to his running roots. Living in an unfamiliar place with few friends or acquaintances, Roes began running simply to fill his days. “Getting into ultras was really more of an accident,” he says. “I definitely didn’t ever intend to race distances this far.”

His first ultra came in 2006. Tagging along with a woman he had been dating who was biking the Susitna 100, he entered the Little Su 50K run that was held in conjunction with the event. “I signed up for it but didn’t really think I was going to do it. I kind of trained for it, but not really,” he says. After finishing first, logging the second-fastest time in course history, he told himself he’d never do anything like it again. “It was horribly painful,” he remembers.

Two days later, however, he was already plotting his next ultra. “I was determined to try it again and train smarter and see if it would get easier,” he says. The next year he ran and won the Susitna 100 miler, setting a course record. This race proved to be the first in a long string of century run championships for Roes.

“The moments of pain, doubt, and despair during or after races sometimes leaves me wondering why I’d ever put myself through that, but usually pretty soon after, I’m ready for another one. I guess I just have a bad memory,” Roes says, laughing.

Western States Rookie

Running 100-mile weeks, Roes’ build-up to Western States went precisely as planned. Although his weekly mileage was almost half of Krupicka’s, he won the American River 50 Mile Endurance Run in April and also placed first at the North Face Endurance Challenge 50 miler in May.

Despite Roes’ phenomenal start to the season, he knew that unexpected things could happen on the trails of a 100-mile race. For almost the entire first half of this year’s Western States, Roes, Krupicka and Jornet hung together. Upon reaching mile 46, however, that unexpected thing happened: Roes’ energy levels plummeted and he found himself without any steam on the uphills.

As they dropped into the canyon two miles before the Devil’s Thumb aid station, Roes says, “I suddenly went from feeling really relaxed and really solid to having no energy. Every uphill was a struggle.” Krupicka and Jornet took off; he wouldn’t see them again for nearly 40 miles.

Roes entered survival mode for the next 25 miles, up to Devil’s Thumb, up Michigan Bluff and up Forest Hill. He focused his depleting energy on taking in gels, drinking water and staying cool. In the meantime, Krupicka and Jornet were gapping him by a dramatic 15 minutes.

“I forced myself not to worry or think about what they were doing. I knew I needed to be patient. If I didn’t do what I needed to do to make my body feel strong again, it wasn’t going to matter what they did,” explains Roes. “I just kept hoping things would come back to me.”

With a history of turning tables three-quarters of the way into 100-milers, he knew the race wasn’t over. At mile 70, Roes began to regain his strength and confidence. As he increased his pace, he started asking how far back he was at the aid stations and he found himself gaining ground, making up 1.5 minutes per mile. “I was feeling so hungry to catch those guys,” says Roes.